Study in Austria-General Information for Pakistani Students.

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Study in Austria General Information for Pakistani Students

Revision 1.2

Muhammad Adnan August, 2011

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Table of Contents
Table of Contents .......................................................................................................................... 2 Revision History ............................................................................................................................ 2 Preface ............................................................................................................................................ 3 The Story ........................................................................................................................................ 4 1. How to search for your field of study .................................................................................... 6 2. Admission to Austrian University .......................................................................................... 6 3. Eligibility Criteria for Admission in Masters and Bachelors.............................................. 6 4. Document Attestation from Austrian Embassy.................................................................... 7 5. Admission Dates ...................................................................................................................... 7 6. Language Requirements ......................................................................................................... 8 7. Visa Process ............................................................................................................................. 8 8. Money matters and Bank statement ...................................................................................... 9 9. Fees and Expenses in Austria ............................................................................................... 10 10. Accommodation Issues .......................................................................................................... 10 11. Health insurance in Austria ................................................................................................. 10 12. Part time Jobs ........................................................................................................................ 11 13. Difference between University and University of Applied Sciences ................................. 11 14. Step-by-step procedure for study in Europe....................................................................... 13 15. Some Useful Links ................................................................................................................. 14 Frequently Asked Questions ...................................................................................................... 15

Revision History
Name Muhammad Adnan Muhammad Adnan Muhammad Adnan Muhammad Saqib Kazi Date January 9, 2011 February 17,2011 August 13, 2011 Reason For Changes Version Original Document Version 1.0 Added section of FAQs. New topic Version 1.1 on Admission criteria for Masters and Bachelors. More explanation on visa and Version 1.2 attestation process. Some changes in Money matters.

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Preface
This document contains information on admission and visa process for Europe in general and for Austria in particular, for Pakistani students. I decided to write this document after receiving many questions on admission and study in Austria. Many of these questions were very simple and irritating, like how can I get admission in Austrian university? This question itself is enough to tease your mind when a Bachelor degree holder asks this. Also, some people ask simple questions which they may know by themselves by just analyzing one particular situation or just by Googling this over internet. But, it seems that still there is a lack of information on how to google topic or people are too lazy to do that. Another problem, usually with majority of Pakistani students is that they dont understand something by just reading it somewhere. Someone has to dictate them, virtually by pointing his finger and saying that DO THIS, and then they get it. Even, if it was written there before and they had read it hundred times before, but they were not getting it. This habit will also take some time to get rid of. That is why I decided to write this document and categorically elaborate each step for admission in some European university in general and for Austria in particular. Since, the collective effort cannot be perfect at all, the case of an individuals work is worse than that. There will be some discrepancies in this document, lack of details on some topics and may be some wrong information (I did not put anything wrong intentionally but I may not be updated), also some grammatical mistakes as well. The reader is required to give his feedback. Ask some questions on topics which may be left un-touched so that I may add it here for next version of document. In this way, we will be able to carry it on with up to date information. No feedback will not only stop its development, but also with time, some information may get wrong. Another reason to write this document is the lack of information about Austria, as very few students come here. Also, Austrian embassy does not clarify any matter regarding visa process and Residence permit application. Behavior of person at Austrian embassy is really demoralizing and not helpful at all. He will not tell you anything in detail. Embassy even does not know about how to prove your financial status to the authorities in Austria. Either they dont know or they dont clarify this to the applicant. This makes visa process more difficult along with the verification and attestation fee and ambiguity of whole process. But I hope, after you read this documents, everything will be clear to you.

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The Story
Around 10 months ago, when I started applying at Austrian Universities, there was no one to help out to clarify matters regarding Austrian visa, studies, work, bank statement etc. I asked on different groups but could not find anyone. Its not because there are no Pakistani students in Austria, they are there, but they don't help out. Most of them are beneficiaries of HEC and since HEC handled their visa process, they know nothing about actual difficulties which one encounters when one apply for visa at his own. You won't find any of them on forums or groups. I also got admission in Germany. I could only apply for one country, either Germany or Austria and not both because I had financial proof of one year only. For Germany I had to send this money to Germany and if I sent it there, the statement from Germany would not be accepted by Austrians. So, after a long thought, I decided to apply for Austrian visa. The program in Austria was a little more attractive to me than the one in Germany. Apart from that, I decided to go to Austria to clarify different ambiguities related to Austria. e.g Visa process, Job situation etc. In other words I just decided to be a "qurbaani ka bakra". My intention was to come here and then help more students from Pakistan to come here and clarify the ambiguities surrounding Austrian visa application. At this decision, my whole year or in other words, future and previous effort that I had done in getting admission in Austrian and German universities was on stack, but I believed in success and finally after a long and tiresome visa process, I succeeded and arrived here in October, 2010.. Once I started Austrian visa process, there were a lot of difficulties that I faced. On every hurdle that I faced, people around me heavily discouraged, literally demoralized and criticized me on my decision to apply for Austrian visa and not for German for which everything was clear. At the very beginning, I encountered a big hurdle and was almost turning back on my decision when one day, I came across this verse of Holy Quran ( ") When you have taken your decision, put your trust in Allah". I just stopped there, where I saw this verse on a wall painting and thought for a while ... "is this verse saying something to me?"....... And I said, yes! ......it is in fact about me!!!!. This way I must say that I have found a clue, a golden rule to every success and every successful decision. This one verse has given me a formula for my whole life. After that, I just remained firm on my decision and I continued to cope with the hurdles. I remained stick to my decision and believed in help from Allah Almighty and in fact, this is the key to success. During my visa process, I encountered another guy from Lahore, who was also struggling for Austrian visa and he was a student of same university where I had got admission. He was around 2 months late in applying for visa and knew nothing about the process. Since, I had been through the visa process, I helped him out and I think its my first success that he arrived around 2 months after me. Though, he was late to be here but the success had its worth and a nice taste and heavenly smell. Though, I've helped him and I'm helping many other people to the extent I can, but I bear no credit for helping others and giving favors. As, its Allah who has created and made me this way that I like to help others and share knowledge and information, and after creating me like this, He is now giving me the opportunity to deliver others what I've got. I ask you to pray for me so that I will be successful in fulfilling that. I am especially thankful to group moderators of Norway and Finland as one of them, I think Mashhood Sheikh, related his personal experience of his Austria study application and its lengthy Visa process. Apart from that I really appreciate their effort in maintaining a group related to studies abroad in one particular country. Also, I appreciate from my heart, the perseverance,

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patience and helpful attitude of group moderators, who repeatedly answer to stupid straight forward questions of many people. May Allah give them health, wealth and prosperity in life and hereafter. Muhammad Adnan adnan_199@yahoo.com Skype: studyinaustria

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1. How to search for your field of study

To find the program of your interest is a primary task when you decide to go abroad for studies. Here are links from where you can have a look at the study programs offered by Austrian Universities. http://www.studyguide.at/ Particularly for Austria http://www.mastersportal.eu/ Whole Europe. Here you can search for your field of study. The search tool here is very nice and sophisticated. You can sort your search results by country as well. The first link actually is in German language but you can open it in Google Chrome which automatically translates pages in foreign language into English. This will make your life easy. For details on Universities and University of Applied Sciences please see the section Difference b/w University and University of Applied Sciences First site is not very much detailed and you may not know the details for the program you are interested in, but at least you will know that which university is offering this program. After this step, you can Google the name of that university to access university website to get more information and details about study program, admission procedure fees and everything else. The second link also gives some description of the program and in some cases its curriculum with the link to course home page. Which makes this site more attractive for program search and off course this site is in English.

2. Admission to Austrian University

Unlike Sweden, Finland or Germany, there is no central authority for receiving and verifying documents in Austria. Each university conducts its admissions separately and they have their procedure different from each other. Please look at the website of your university to know details about admission procedure.

3. Eligibility Criteria for Admission in Masters and Bachelors

To apply for a Master degree program in Europe, one has to have a Bachelor degree of 4 years from Pakistan. This accounts of 16 years of education (Intermediate + Bachelor = 12 + 4 = 16 years of education). If, however, your Bachelors degree is of 2 years, then you will have 14 years of education and you are not eligible to apply for Master degree courses. So, in this case, you have to do Masters from Pakistan and complete your 16 years of education and then apply for Master Degree here in Europe. To apply for Bachelor degree, you must have your 12 years of education completed. It means that Intermediate (FSc) degree holder can apply for Bachelor program provided that he/she fulfils language requirements. Almost all Bachelor degree program in European countries are taught in their local languages e.g German, Italian and Finnish etc. However, you may find some Bachelor programs in English in some countries like Finland, Germany and Austria. Please look at university database of respective country to find info about that.

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Admission to Bachelor degree program is usually accompanied by an entry test, just like Pakistan. Some universities conduct entry tests in foreign countries if they have sufficient Bechelor degree applicants from that particular country. If you apply in such a program and your university does not conduct entry test in Pakistan, then you may have to visit India or Nepal for that test, if university conducts that entry test there. I have a friend who applied for such a program in Finland in 2010. His university conducted entry test in Nepal and he has to go to Nepal for that test. He went there, appeared in entry test, passed it and now he is in Finland studying his Bachelors degree.

4. Document Attestation from Austrian Embassy

Some universities in Austria ask applicants to send documents attested by Austrian Embassy. If your university says so, then you have to send them attested documents by Austrian Embassy. If university website does not say so, then for admission, there is no need to attest your documents from Austrian Embassy. But for visa, you will have to attest them, as according to Embassy, this is a standard procedure which you have to follow. So, in either case you have to get your documents attested by Austrian Embassy. Here is a list of documents which Austrian Embassy Attests. 1- Academic Certificate (Metric, FSc, BSc and any other degree issued by a Pakistani University or Institute) 2- Birth Certificate (Embassy verifies your birth by sending and advocate to your local areaunion council) 3- Police Clearance Certificate or Police Certificate. First step of this attestation procedure is the verification. Embassy verifies each of your document by a third party organization linked to the embassy. Embassy pays them for this purpose. So, you have to pay Embassy to get your documents verified. This fee at my time (2010) was around 23,000 (Twenty Three Thousand Rupees Only). Keep in mind that this is Verification fee. When documents are verified, embassy will call you to get your original documents Attested. Embassy will put a stamp at the back of your Original Documents with the signature of Counselor/Ambassador. They will charge 40-Euros (Fourty Euros Only) per document of yours, for attestation. You have to pay equivalent amount in Pakistani Rupees. For verification/attestation, it is better to make an appointment with the embassy, but (Now, there is no more appointmentsupdate 2011) You can go there on Monday for documents submission without appointment. You have to be there early in morning to have your name written at the gate. After embassy is done with people with appointment, it will call you inside. But your turn may not come if there are too many people there. So its good to make an appointment. Embassy only attests your original documents and not photocopies. You will send photocopies of these attested documents to your university.

5. Admission Dates
Admission dates are not specific in any country of Europe. Dates vary from university to university. Most universities intake is annual and it is usually in fall semester. For fall semesters, admission starts usually in February, March. If university intake is also available in summer semester, then for summer semester, admission dates are usually in October, November. You have to consult website of your selected university to know final dates and information about intake.

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6. Language Requirements
Usually, Bachelors degree programs all over the Europe are taught in local language of that particular country. There are very few universities which offer Bachelor degree courses in English. But for Masters, case is different. From last decade, majority of universities which offered Masters courses have started Master degree courses in English. They say these courses as International Master Degree Program. It is called International because it is in English. If your selected program is in local Language then university will require you to have a certificate in their Local language e.g German, Italian etc. If program is in English, then they will require you provide English Language Proficiency Certificate (IELTS, TOEFL or in some cases, they may accept a Proficiency Certificate from your university). To know about the score requirements in TOEFL or Band requirements in IELTS, you have to check your university website. Each university has its own requirement. Many universities accept IELTS band 6.0 or even 5.5, TOEFL iBT score 80. Some may require a higher score of 90 (TOEFL) or 6.5(IELTS). So, it would be nice if you strive for the maximum score in your Language Certificate to increase number of universities you can apply.
Note: Although your selected university may accept a Proficiency Certificate issued by your own previous university, this certificate will always be below the scores of IELTs and TOEFL. Since competition for admission is more and more every year, you may lose your position if your competents are providing IELTS/TOEFL as compared to you. So, it would always be better to provide an internationally recognized English Language Proficiency Certificate.

7. Visa Process
In general, visa process is same for all countries accept Austria. As, if your documents are not Verified and Attested by Austrian Embassy, they will do so first(this process takes 4-8 weeks) even if your university does not require you to get them attested by Embassy. When you have submitted your documents for verification, take an appointment from embassy after two/three weeks of this submission for your residence permit. This is to save your time when documents are attested. Once you get your admission letter from university and your documents are attested by embassy, you start your visa process. In Austrian case, application for visa is called Application for Residence Permit. You apply for Residence Permit and once your application is approved (It usually takes 4-6 weeks), embassy will call you to submit Schengen visa form. After you fill in that form and submit visa fee and submit your passport, you get your visa in 10 days. The form for Residence Permit Application is a little complicated and is in German. It has around 10-12 pages. At first sight you may not be able to recognize even a word out of it. But with a little effort you can find the soft copy of this form on Google. I found it on the Austrian foreign ministry website (I dont remember it now). Once you get the soft form, you can give this .pdf or .doc to Google translator to get a Translation and then fill in the form. Otherwise, If someone of yours knows German language can fill this form. But at least dont pay anyone to fill out this form. You can contact me if you dont find any way out.

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The fee for Residence Permit Application is around 80-Euros (Eighty Euros only), which you have to submit while submitting your application. Almost same amount you will pay when you apply for Schengen Visa at last step. Residence permit application is necessary for people (students) who want to stay in Austria for more than six months. Usually, Master degree program is of two years. Students who want to come to Austria for one semester or less than six months, they dont need to apply for Residence Permit. I dont have any further information about the visa process for this kind of students. Application Form for Residence Permit and its explanation is also available on this site. http://www.bmeia.gv.at/vertretung/taipeh/ratgeber/formulare-zum-download.html This page is in German. You can translate it from Google Chrome or Google toolbar in IE or Mozilla.

8. Money matters and Bank statement

If you are not holder of a scholarship then you have to prove that you have sufficient funds to cover the expense of one or two years. As, I know, Sweden requires the proof of two years. The rest of countries, including Austria, require you to show sufficient money for one year. Money for One year for Austria is around 9500 Euros (Nine Thousand Five Hundred Euros onlyfor age above 24 years). It changes a little bit every year. (Usually, increases). This amount of money is more than any other country in Europe. This is because Austria is a little bit more expansive then other countries. If your age is below 24 years, then you have to show 5258(Five thousand, two hundred and fifty eight Euros Only). Please look at http://www.oead.at/welcome_to_austria/legal_practical_issues/entry_to_austria/nationals_of_third_ countries/stays_for_more_than_6_months/students_at_austrian_universities/EN/ For updated amount of this money. (Please type above link in your browser if it does not work by clicking on. Otherwise, you can browse OEAD website for this information.) For Austria, your local bank account statement which is in Rupees will not be accepted. Actually, they require you to either open a bank account in some Austrian bank or provide them with equal amount of Traveler Cheques. Both things are not possible because you cannot open a bank account in Austrian bank unless you are in Austria and also Traveler cheques are not available in Pakistan. You cannot buy them either. The solution is to open a Euro account in an internationally renowned bank like Standard Chartered or HSBC etc. Submit this amount of Euros (9500-euros or whatever is required) into that account, get your bank statement, and attach it to your Residence Permit Application form. For Austria, money doesnt need to be there for last six or 12 months. But it would be nice, if it is there for last 3 or 4 months to avoid any risk. Even if it was not there for last 3, 4 months, it will not be a problem. You may have opened your euro account just a week ago. If your university requires you to show proof of funds while applying for admission, they will give you a form to fill. This form will have some fields asking you to enter annual income of your family. Usually, university doesnt need any proof at this time. So, you can just fill this form in to show that your family income is sufficient to support you. You dont need to have money in your bank at this time.

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9. Fees and Expenses in Austria

Usually, there is a tuition fee of around 363 Euros (Three hundred, sixty three Euros only) per semester in Austrian universities. This fee is not too much and one who has studied in any private or semi-government university of Pakistan, can afford it very easily. Austria is a little expensive country in compared to other countries of Europe. For single person living alone in single room, the cost will be from 300 to 350 Euros per month (this includes rent, internet, electricity cost and food). Room rent is usually from 200 to 250 Euros/month. But if you share your accommodation, you can reduce your monthly cost to around 250 Euros. Furthermore it also depends on the city where you live. Capital and large cities are expansive as compared to small and remote areas. But even if you live in Capital, the monthly cost should not be more than 400 Euros. Food cost per month, as I estimated here is around 50 to 80 Euros, if you know how to save money. But even if you dont know, it will not be over 80 Euros.

10. Accommodation Issues

When you are applying for Residence Permit Student, you have to show a document proving that you have accommodation for your stay in Austria. For this you must have booked room in a hostel or a student dormitory. For this purpose you have to contact with your university they will provide you student dormitory or if they dont have student hostel/dormitory so in this case you have to book hostel/dormitory at your own. There are several student dormitories/Hostels in Austria named 1. Home 4 Students website: http://www.home4students.at/ 2. Mozartheim website: http://www.mozart.uni-klu.ac.at/ 3. Studentheim website: http://www.studentenheim.at/ Book your room there and they will provide you with an agreement that you will submit to the embassy as a proof of accommodation.

11. Health insurance in Austria

Health insurance is must is Austria. You have to get it once you arrive here. It costs you 50 Euros per month which is low as compared to Germany, where you have to pay 68 Euros per month. You have to get some travel health insurance when you apply for Residence permit from Pakistan. You have to get Insurance of at least 3 or 4 months from your expected travel/arrival to start of your study period. You will submit this insurance certificate with your Residence Permit Application. Once you are here, you will apply for student health insurance at a local insurance company. This health insurance is in fact local to whole Europe.

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12. Part time Jobs

Due to small number of students, part time jobs are available in Austria. For example you can do a newspaper delivery job and earn 500 Euros a month. This job is easy to get in winter because people avoid doing it due to cold. In big cities like Vienna, student work in restaurants and earn reasonable amount to support themselves for their study period. If you are technical person, you can work in some company as and internee and they may pay you from 400 to 800 Euros (it is just a rough estimate). But, its always hard to find such internships related to your field of study. Still, there are more opportunities here in the technical field as compared to Norway, Finland and Sweden. If you want to work here, then for that you have to get work permit. Work permit is hard to get everywhere in Europe because of policy of European Union. Companies are asked to hire local Europeans unless absolutely necessary. If you are too good in your field, then you will have no problem in getting a work permit. After your Master degree, there is no work-search visa here in Austria. In Germany, they usually give you a work-search visa once you complete your Master or Bachelors degree. Here in Austria, students, if they get an internship/trainee-ship in some company, they usually get admission into another Master to prolong their stay and earn money from that internship/trainee-ship. Then with time, company may hire them if they are good enough and in that case they get a work permit. You can also get a visa on basis of your internship/trainee-ship, but it is usually of 6 months only. So, it is better to get admission into another Masters to get a visa/residence permit for a year.

13. Difference between University and University of Applied Sciences

Before 10, 12 years ago, there were only Universities and there was nothing named like University of Applied Sciences (Fochhochschule in German abbreviated as FH). Then the government in German speaking countries (Germany, Austria) established this new type of university and named it Fochhochschule (FH)University of Applied Sciences. The purpose was to enhance industrial and practical courses in Bachelor and Masters. Study at FH is more practical oriented in collaboration with industry, while at University study is more Research Oriented. So, if someone wants to work in Industry after his Bachelors or Masters, he should enroll in an FH and if someone wants to have more research in his study, then he should prefer University. According to the definition or law, degrees from both FH and University are equvalent when compared by credit scores earned. Also, one who has done his Bachelor from an FH is eligible to enroll in Masters in a University. Similarly, a Master degree holder from an FH is eligible to enroll into PhD anywhere. But, unfortunately, this may not be exactly the case. Generally, a degree from University is considered superior to a degree from FH, when you want to enroll for further studies. I know one of my friends who did is Bachelors from an FH in Germany, but he was denied admission in Masters in a University saying that you hold a degree from FH and you need to take more study courses to be eligible to enroll in Masters. So, that guy has no other way except to enroll in a Master course at some FH. This is one example which may not be implied as a general rule, but I wanted it to share this with you.

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In, the case that you go for a practical work in an industry, then FH degree would be preferred over University degree. Generally, outside German speaking countries, people and universities dont know the difference b/w FH and University. They consider both as university and degree of both as equivalent. This means that if an FH master degree holder goes to some non-German speaking country to enroll in PhD, they may not consider this little difference and he will not have any problem in getting admission.

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14. Step-by-step procedure for study in Europe

1. Get your passport if you havent made it yet. Passport is needed not only for IELTS/TOEFL but also it is required by every university where you want to apply for admission. 2. If you want to apply for Austria, Get your documents attested from Austrian Embassy whenever you have time. As, this may not be required for admission but it will eventually be required for visa. 3. Get your IELTS or TOEFL done on priority bases. This will make you eligible to apply for admission anywhere. 4. Get your documents attested from BISE, HEC and Foreign Office whenever you have time. Get sufficient copies attested from BISE and HEC so that you can apply to at least 3, 4 universities. Get your original documents attested from Foreign Office. 5. Make some Recommendation letters (2 or 3) from university professors you know. Make them general and not particular to any university so that you can use them while applying anywhere. 6. Meanwhile, think about arrangement of money which you have to show, once you get admitted. Look around for people who may help you out. Also, pray for yourself so that some resources may appear out of nowhere. 7. Find your field of study in some university which is free or which has some nominal fee which you can afford. Its better to make a list of universities where you think yourself eligible to apply and prioritize them. Look at university website in detail to know about admission procedure and fee matters. Some universities may want you apply online and then send your documents along with a printed copy of the online form. In some cases they may defer your documents until you have been preselected. If you are preselected, then they will ask you to send paper copies of your documents. The process depends on your university. In some cases they may conduct an interview. 8. Note down admission procedure and mark deadlines on your Calendar so that you may have no problem in future in meeting deadlines. 9. Apply for admission in time. It is better to apply as soon as possible when admission starts. 10. If you are admitted, you will be notified by email as well as you will receive an admission letter. After you receive your admission letter, you can start your visa process. 11. For Austrian visa, you have to show proof of accommodation arrangement. Your university will usually arrange you a proof of accommodation if you are admitted. You have to ask them for that. Proof of accommodation is necessary for Residence permit application. 12. Contact the embassy to make an appointment to apply for visa. 12.1. In case of Austria, you apply for Residence Permit. 13. Apply for visa (Residence Permit) as soon as possible. Usually visa process takes 4-6 weeks. But it may prolong if there is some problem. In case of Austria, if your Residence Permit Application is accepted, embassy will ask you to submit Schengen visa form. They will call you in that case. Submit that Schengen visa form and you will get your visa in 10 days. 14. When you get your visa, and have your passport stamped by the embassy, book a flight and get yourself on a study abroad tour.

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15. Some Useful Links

www.studyinfinland.fi Admission for Finland. www.daad.de German universities and scholarships data base www.studyguide.at Austrian Universities guide. http://www.mastersportal.eu/ Master portal for all Europe. http://www.oead.at/index.php?id=1916&L=1 Austrian Exchange Server. This is a very useful and informative link about study in Austria. You will find up-to-date information about financial proof and scholarships available in Austria. It also contains detailed information on visa process, part time work and work permits in Austria. http://www.pakscholars.org/austria/index.asp Site created by Pakistani Students (by HEC scholarships holder). You may find some useful info there but this site is not updated for, I think, over three years. http://www.bmeia.gv.at/vertretung/taipeh/ratgeber/formulare-zum-download.html. For Residence permit application form and other documents.

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Frequently Asked Questions

1- Can I go to Germany or any other European country, once I am in Austria after my admission to an Austrian University? Yes. You can go to Germany or any other European country after you get Residence Permit Card from here. Since you are living in a Schengen country, you can go to other Schengen countries (25 countries) and live there for maximum of 3 months in a 6 months period. If you plan to apply for any other European country, you can do that from Austria as well. For example, if someone plans to apply for some German university then he can apply there. If he gets admitted then he has to apply for German residence/student visa, because with this Austrian residence, he can live in Germany for maximum of 3 months in a 6 month period. And again, you will have to fulfill all the requirements laid by Germany for a student e.g. deposit of one year expanse money in German bank etc. 2- How university conduct Interview of an applicant? If your university conducts interview for admission to Master degrees then this interview will be on Skype. 3- Is there any interview at embassy while applying for residence permit or visa? If you are a student and you are applying for residence permit after your admission, then there will be a short interview at embassy. Usually interview questions include enquiry about your profession, your job, your source of income and about your financial support etc.